MAXBrowse

From Q4MAX

Contents

Download

The latest version can always be downloaded from the Q4Max downloads page.

Overview

MAXBrowse is a server-browser for a number of games, and the primary goal of the browser is to be both easy to use and powerful, but without adding a large number of options and complex configuration screens.

Currently MAXBrowser supports: Doom 3, Quake 4, Prey, Enemy Territory – Quake Wars, Quake 3, Wolfenstein : Enemy Territory, and Warsow. Further games may be added in the future.


The main MAXBrowse window is made up of 4 panes:

  • Server List
  • Filter Tree
  • Server Info
  • Players

The server list, displayed on the right hand side, is the list of all servers which match the current filters. When a server is selected in this list, the Players and Server Info panes (bottom left) are populated with information about the server. Additionally, you can connect to the server, view details of the server and more through the menus.

The filter tree, displayed in the top left, allows you to navigate through the servers to filter the servers to those you are most interested in. By default, this is grouped by mod, then by gametype, and then finally by map. Clicking on any item within the tree will filter it to show only those appropriate to your selection – so clicking at the top will show all servers, while clicking on a mod will only show servers for that mod.

In addition to the filter tree there are a number of standard filters for showing / hiding servers with Punkbuster, passwords, which are available via the menu and toolbar.

Configuring Games

When you first launch MAXBrowse it will automatically detect the games that have been installed via the installers, however if you have manually installed the games, or installed through another method (eg using Steam), you may need to configure the games. This is done through the "Configure Games" menu item under the "Game" menu.

When configuring a game, simply check the tickbox to indicate that the game is installed, highlight the "default" version, and select “Edit Installation”. Locate the executable to launch. There is no need to set the "additional parameters" field for fs_game or password, as these will automatically be set by MAXBrowse, however you can use this to execute a config or set any other parameters you choose.

If you have multiple versions of the game installed then you can add multiple installations, and MAXBrowse will automatically pick the version based upon the version the server is running. Note that to do this, you must have queried the master server list at least once, to have obtained a list of versions. Once the game has been configured, the menu item for this game will become enabled under the "Game" menu. Selecting the game will switch to displaying servers for this game.

The first time you select a game, it will automatically query the master server to obtain a list of servers.

The "Force no SMP" option defaults to selected for Quake 3. This option is the same as selecting the application to run on one CPU through Task Manager, or via an external program such as arQon’s “nosmp.exe”. This may be required for Q3 engine games with modern graphics card drivers, if they error due to threaded optimizations in the device drivers.


Server Lists

Once you have a list of servers, you can refresh them, or look for new servers whenever you choose. When refreshing servers, you can:

  • Check for new servers – this will check the master server for new servers, and only query these new servers
  • Refresh all servers – this will check the master server, and then query all servers – both those you had in your server list before, and the new servers
  • Refresh visible servers – this will refresh only the servers currently visible in the server list
  • Refresh selected servers – this will only refresh the servers that are currently highlighted in the server list.

Additionally, you may manually add a server, by specifying the IP / hostname, and port number. Generally this should not be necessary, because most servers should be automatically found via the master server.

MAXBrowse will always remember a server, even if it drops out of the master server list. This may mean that servers which are taken down cause your lists to grow. When you wish to remove all of the unresponsive servers, you can select “Delete Old Servers” to remove any server which is currently marked as unresponsive. It will not automatically remove any server which has been marked as a favourite. If the server is still reporting to the master server even though it is unresponsive it will be re-added when the master server is next queried, so there should be no harm in selecting this option periodically.

Server List Display

The display of the servers in the Server List pane is customizable. You can resize the columns by dragging the separators between them, and re-order them by clicking and dragging on the headers themselves.

Additional columns can be selected using the “Select Columns” menu option in the “View” menu. Columns may be moved between the “available” and “selected” lists by clicking the arrow buttons – only those in the “Selected” list will be displayed in the main window.

The servers may be sorted, or reverse sorted by any column, by clicking on the column header – for example, commonly users sort by either ping, or by the number of players.

These layout settings, and also the positions of the pane separators are automatically stored for the next time you launch the application. They are stored on a per-game basis, so each game you play may have a different display. Within the view, you can highlight multiple servers at once using the standard ctrl and shift key combinations – which can be useful for refreshing servers you’re interested in, for example.

There are times when you may be searching for a specific server. If this is the case, then the "Find server" menu item allows you to search for a server. This will search all servers currently displayed for the text entered – by default searching all of the columns displayed, and will automatically highlight any of those that match. For example, searching for "SN.Q4Pickup" will highlight all 3 servers with this IRC channel name in the server name, and they can then easily be either refreshed, or added to a favourites group, for example.

Server Options

Once you have located a server that you like, the right-click menu in the list gives a number of options, ranging from copy + paste of just the server IP (and port), through to connecting. You can connect to it through the "Connect" menu item. If the server has a password, you can select "Set Password", and enter the password. This will then be remembered, and automatically used whenever you connect to the server.

Alternatively, if you are organizing a game with friends, you can either copy the server address (IP:port), or the full details of the server into the Windows clipboard.

You can also view the server details which shows the full details of the server in a window of its own, from which you can refresh the server and easily see all of its properties.

Filter Tree

The filter tree allows an easy way to navigate through the servers. The default structure is to filter by mod, then by mod version, then gametype, and then finally by map. This generally makes it very easy for example to locate a q4max 0.78 Duel server, by selecting Q4Max, then the version number, and then the duel gametype. Within this, you could then choose if you want a specific map, or just select from any of the Duel servers.

Although this default structure is believed to be ideal for many players, you may choose to change this. For example, if you prefer to play only on servers running high values of si_fps, then you might choose to group the servers by si_fps at the top of the tree. This would then let you see the servers grouped by this setting.

To configure the tree structure, select "Edit tree structure" in the "View" menu. This will display a dialog which allows you to add and delete items into the tree structure. You can structure by any serverinfo data - simply edit the tree so that the labels displayed in this dialog match the names displayed in the "Key" column in the server info pane when querying a server – which in general is the same name as the cvars within the game – eg "fs_game" and "si_gametype" in Quake 4.

If servers do not have a value for a particular setting, they will be grouped underneath "<Unknown>". With the default structure, any server which has never been successfully queried will be displayed under "<Unknown>" for all properties, because the mod it is running has not been identified. As with the server list display, the filter tree structure is automatically remembered for each game, so you can configure a different structure for different games if you choose.

Standard Filters

In addition to the filter tree, the toolbar and View menu has a number of standard filters. These allow you to apply additional filters on top of that selected via the filter tree. These standard filters are:

  • Show Empty – when not selected, empty servers will not be displayed
  • Show Fill – when not selected, full servers will not be displayed.
  • Show Passworded – when not selected, servers with passwords will not be displayed.
  • Show with PB – when not selected, servers with Punkbuster enabled will not be shown.
  • Show without PB – when not selected, servers without Punkbuster enabled will not be shown.
  • Show Q4TV Servers – when selected, will only show TV servers. When not selected, will not show TV servers. Note that at the moment this only supports Q4TV.
  • Version filter - the toolbar shows a dropdown list of all the versions of the game, and allows you to filter to just a specific version.

Favourite Servers

A final method of filtering is to configure favourites groups. This is done by selecting servers in the server list, and choosing the “Add to favourites” menu item. This will then allow you to enter a name for the favourites group (or select an existing one if you have already created a favourites group).

Once you have added some servers into favourites groups, the group names will be displayed in a dropdown list on the toolbar. This allows you to filter to just the servers within the selected favourites group. All the other filters still apply though, so for example if your version number is set to “Q4 1.3” then it will still only show Q4 1.3 servers.

To remove a server from a favourites group, simply switch to that favourites group, select the servers to remove, and select “Remove from favourites”. When the last servers have been removed from a favourites group, the group itself will disappear from the list.

Credits

Software Development: AnthonyJ - Anthony Jacques – AnthonyJ@planetquake.com IP database: GeoCountry Lite Flag icons: Zarkof MAX icon: fnatic|Alba Thanks to the Q4Max team and testers, and numerous other testers for their feedback, and to id Software, who’s games are at the base of all of the supported games.

All trademarks are acknowledged as belonging to their respective owners.

Changelog

1.2

  • add - ETQW support
  • add - ET support
  • add - Q3 support
  • add - Warsow support
  • add - Support for ICMP pings to servers instead of timing the server reply
  • add - Customisable number of servers queried at once
  • add - MAXBrowse can now automatically minimise to systray when launching a game
  • chg - Player details lists are now different for different games. ETQW gets "bot", Q4 gets "clan"
  • chg - Players column may show 4+2 / 12, indicating there are 4 players, 2 bots, and max is 12
  • chg - q4 protocol 2.86 detected as 1.4.2 demo
  • chg - Server details dialog is now resizable
  • chg - the passworded, empty, full, and PB filters are now remembered.
  • chg - on first run, the "Configure Games" dialog will always be shown, even if games are found.
  • fix - if you previously had a protocol or favourites filter, and its no longer present (eg deleted server .xml files, and refreshed), the filter will be reset.
  • fix - XML issues with players with invalid ascii codes in their names corrected
  • fix - Refreshing the servers triggering the tree on the left to change position
  • fix - Removing a server from all its favourite groups now removes the blue highlight

1.1

  • add - You can now configure multiple installs of the games, and connecting to the server will automatically select the right version. The "<default>" installation will be used for any servers running a version not explicitly set elsewhere.
  • add - "Copy" option in the serverinfo list allows copying of selected serverinfo data.
  • add - "Passworded" column displays as a padlock
  • add - "Punkbuster" displays a punkbuster logo if it is enabled
  • add - tooltips + hints for all menu items and toolbars
  • chg - "Add server" dialog no longer has a separate box for port. Specify the host either with or without the port. The default port for the game will be assumed if none specified.
  • chg - Some basic info pulled out separately in the "server details" dialog to make it clearer.
  • chg - now queries more servers at once (20 at a time)
  • chg - full servers are highlighted in red text
  • chg - favourite servers are highlighted in blue
  • chg - alternate rows have a shaded background, to make it easier to read
  • chg - Columns headers now have arrows indicating sort direction (XP and above only)
  • chg - Player details list is now sortable.
  • fix - "Server Details" dialog doesnt duplicate players in the list when repeatedly pressing refresh.
  • fix - Corrected problem with menu labels being changed to random characters sometimes.
  • fix - refreshing servers no longer rebuilds the tree on the left, which also cleared selections.
  • fix - adding a server will trigger the view to be refreshed, displaying the new server if appropriate.

1.0

  • Initial version

MAXBrowse License Agreement

BY DOWNLOADING, INSTALLING OR USING THE MAXBROWSE SOFTWARE (THE "PRODUCT"), THE INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY LICENSING THE PRODUCT ("LICENSEE") IS CONSENTING TO BE BOUND BY AND IS BECOMING A PARTY TO THIS AGREEMENT. IF LICENSEE DOES NOT AGREE TO ALL OF THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, THE PRODUCT MUST NOT BE DOWNLOADED, AND LICENSEE MUST NOT INSTALL OR USE THE PRODUCT. 1. LICENSE GRANT. Anthony Jacques, ("Licensor") grants Licensee a non-exclusive and non-transferable license to reproduce and use for personal or internal business purposes the executable code version of the Product, provided any copy must contain all of the original proprietary notices. This license does not entitle Licensee to receive from Licensor hard-copy documentation, technical support, telephone assistance, or enhancements or updates to the Product. Licensee may not customize or redistribute the Product. In the event Licensee wishes to redistribute or sublicense the Product, either for profit or otherwise, Licensee must first obtain written permission from Licensor to do so. 2. RESTRICTIONS. Except as otherwise expressly permitted in this Agreement, Licensee may not: (i) modify or create any derivative works of the Product or documentation, including translation or localization; (ii) decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, or otherwise attempt to derive the source code for the Product (except to the extent applicable laws specifically prohibit such restriction); (iii) redistribute, encumber, sell, rent, lease, sublicense, or otherwise transfer rights to the Product; or (iv) remove or alter any trademark, logo, copyright or other proprietary notices, legends, symbols or labels in the Product. Product components provided with or as part of the Product may be used only with the Product and not on a standalone basis or with any other product. 3. TERMINATION. Without prejudice to any other rights, Licensor may terminate this Agreement if Licensee breaches any of its terms and conditions. Upon termination, Licensee shall destroy all copies of the Product. 4. PROPRIETARY RIGHTS. Title, ownership rights, and intellectual property rights in the Product shall remain in Licensor and/or its copyright holders. Licensee acknowledges such ownership and intellectual property rights and will not take any action to jeopardize, limit or interfere in any manner with Licensor's or its copyright holders' ownership of or rights with respect to the Product. The Product is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws and by international treaties. Licensee agrees, at its expense, to defend and hold Licensor and its affiliates harmless from any and all costs, damages and reasonable attorneys' fees resulting from any claim that Licensee's use of the Product has injured or otherwise violated any right of any third party or violates any law. 5. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY. THE PRODUCT IS PROVIDED FREE OF CHARGE AND ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE WARRANTIES THAT IT IS FREE OF DEFECTS, MERCHANTABLE, FIT FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGING. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PRODUCT IS BORNE BY LICENSEE. SHOULD THE PRODUCT PROVE DEFECTIVE IN ANY RESPECT, LICENSEE AND NOT LICENSOR OR ITS COPYRIGHT HOLDERS ASSUMES THE ENTIRE COST OF ANY SERVICE AND REPAIR. THIS DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY CONSTITUTES AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THIS AGREEMENT. NO USE OF THE PRODUCT IS AUTHORIZED HEREUNDER EXCEPT UNDER THIS DISCLAIMER. 6. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL LICENSOR OR ITS COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE PRODUCT, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, OR ANY AND ALL OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGES OR LOSSES, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY THEREOF, AND REGARDLESS OF THE LEGAL OR EQUITABLE THEORY (CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE) UPON WHICH THE CLAIM IS BASED. IN ANY CASE, LICENSOR'S ENTIRE LIABILITY UNDER ANY PROVISION OF THIS AGREEMENT SHALL NOT EXCEED IN THE AGGREGATE THE SUM OF THE FEES LICENSEE PAID FOR THIS LICENSE (IF ANY) AND FEES FOR SUPPORT OF THE PRODUCT RECEIVED BY LICENSOR UNDER A SEPARATE SUPPORT AGREEMENT (IF ANY), WITH THE EXCEPTION OF DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY CAUSED BY THE NEGLIGENCE OF LICENSOR TO THE EXTENT APPLICABLE LAW PROHIBITS THE LIMITATION OF DAMAGES IN SUCH CASES. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THIS EXCLUSION AND LIMITATION MAY NOT BE APPLICABLE. LICENSOR IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF CONTENT PROVIDED BY LICENSEE OR A THIRD PARTY THAT IS ACCESSED THROUGH THE PRODUCT AND/OR ANY MATERIAL LINKED THROUGH SUCH CONTENT.

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